Testdrive downloads the iso but does not launch virtualbox

Hi, could you please run 'testdrive' from a terminal window and post the output, this will hopefully help identify where the problem is.

I don't think testdrive has been tried with virtualbox 2.1.4, I know from Dustin's comments in b ug #495178 it has been tested with VirtualBox 3.0.8 OSE. I have modified the script (patch can be found attached to bug #495178) that will enable testdrive to work with VirtualBox 3.1.2). If you can upgrade to a more recent VirtualBox then you may find that this will solve your problem.

Good luck!

Hi Paul, Merry Christmas.

As requested output from terminal:

  1. Ubuntu Desktop (lucid)
     +-cache--> [2009-12-22 08:13:23] lucid-desktop-i386.iso
  2. Ubuntu Server (lucid)
  3. Ubuntu Alternate (lucid)
  4. Ubuntu DVD (lucid)
  5. Ubuntu Netbook Remix (lucid)
  6. Other (prompt for ISO URL)

Select an ISO to testdrive: 1

WARNING: Your CPU's lack of VT will impact the performance of your VMs.
INFO: Using VirtualBox for virtual machine hosting...

INFO: Syncing the specified ISO...
      rsync://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-i386.iso
receiving file list ...
1 file to consider
lucid-desktop-i386.iso
   718346240 100% 1.87MB/s 0:06:07 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 186727 bytes received 209212331 bytes 529454.00 bytes/sec
total size is 718346240 speedup is 3.43

INFO: Creating disk image...
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.4_OSE
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Usage:

VBoxManage createhd -filename <filename>
                            -size <megabytes>
                            [-format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
                            [-static]
                            [-comment <comment>]
                            [-register]
                            [-type normal|writethrough] (default: normal)

Syntax error: Invalid parameter '--filename'

I hope you had a great Christmas!

It looks like the version of Virtualbox you are running is not compatible with the Testdrive script. Are you able to upgrade or is there acreason you are using the v2.1.4?

Thanks .... we did!

I can easily upgrade to a later version. If testdrive is not going to be available for the standard Jaunty installation then I guess this bug can be closed.

Cheers and Happy New Year

Hey guys, thanks for the report.

I'm supporting virtualbox in testdrive on a "best effort" basis at this point. I would love someone to step up and pick up the maintenance of virtualbox in testdrive. My expertise is KVM, and that's really what I focus on.

At this point, I'm going to add a version dependency on virtualbox-ose ( >= 3.0.8), which is what's in Karmic, and the only thing I've really been able to test. I will be happy to review and accept patches that improve testdrive's virtualbox support.

Thanks.

This bug was fixed in the package testdrive - 1.16-0ubuntu1

---------------
testdrive (1.16-0ubuntu1) lucid; urgency=low

  * testdrive, testdrive-select-iso: separate the img and iso in the
    cache directory
  * doc/testdrive.1, testdrive: respect xdg, LP: #501766
  * debian/control: depend on virtualbox >= 3.0.8 (Karmic), which currently
    seems to be the oldest successfully tested version of virtualbox to
    work with testdrive, LP: #499413
  * testdrive-select-iso: if the user doesn't have VT, then defaul to
    i386 images, LP: #497984
  * testdrive, testdrive.desktop: make sure error messages get shown to
    the user, if running from the desktop menu, LP: #497955

  [ Paul Rudkin and Dustin Kirkland ]
  * testdrive: support virtualbox 3.1, LP: #495178
 -- Dustin Kirkland <email address hidden> Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:51:23 -0600

Aha! This is exactly the issue I have had... Virtualbox was not launched as it is v2.1.4 (Jaunty Jackalope) and the Lucid installer hangs in QEMU, after complaining that kvm is disabled. I thought then that kvm was necessary alongside Virtualbox to run, and kvm is disabled on my laptop (sony vaio vgn-ar520e) through the BIOS; I have no reliable way of turning it on yet. I guess then I am stuck at the moment! Karmic has had other issues with my laptop, so I am sticking to Jaunty until I upgrade to Lucid, and I guess I will have to use Virtualbox directly to try out Lucid for a "test drive" until then.

Heh... I tried to be a smart-alec and pull the new virtualbox from the karmic repos... would have caused too many broken packages... so I passed.

Hello,
Doesn't seem to work for me, here is the output on my PC (trimmed a bit):
bogdanbiv@laptop:~/Downloads$ testdrive
  1. Ubuntu Desktop (lucid)
     +-cache--> [2010-01-21 10:13:01] lucid-desktop-i386.iso

Select an ISO to testdrive: 1

WARNING: Your CPU's lack of VT will seriously impact performance.
INFO: Using VirtualBox for virtual machine hosting...

INFO: Syncing the specified ISO...
      rsync://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-i386.iso
receiving file list ...
1 file to consider

sent 120 bytes received 97 bytes 86.80 bytes/sec
total size is 700721152 speedup is 3229129.73

INFO: Unsupported version of VirtualBox; pleast install v3.0 or v3.1.

#and then I ran
bogdanbiv@laptop:~/Downloads$ virtualbox --help
WARNING: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist.
         Please install the virtualbox-ose-source package and the appropriate
         headers, most likely linux-headers-generic.

         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
Sun VirtualBox Graphical User Interface 3.0.8_OSE
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Usage:
  --startvm <vmname|UUID> start a VM by specifying its UUID or name
  --rmode sdl|image select different render mode (default is sdl)

Testdrive version:
bogdanbiv@laptop:~/Downloads$ aptitude show testdrive
Package: testdrive
New: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 1.17-0ubuntu1~ppa4
Priority: optional
Section: misc
Maintainer: Dustin Kirkland <email address hidden>
Uncompressed Size: 111k
Depends: debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0, python, qemu-kvm | kvm (>= 1:84+dfsg-0ubuntu12.4) | virtualbox-ose (>= 3.0.8),

UPDATE: I just ran sudo aptitude install virtualbox-ose-source linux-headers-generic and the problem is gone!